Marching On
by MCRmygirl
Summary: Though the magic is coming to an end, we will continue marching on. This is my consolations to those who have stuck with Harry to the very end.  I do not own these characters


**(All credit goes to OneRepublic for the song and JK Rowling for the marvelous world she created.**

**~FallenAvengingAngel)  
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**For those days we felt like a mistake…**

_Ron looked on with a heavy heart as Molly doted on her daughter, wishing that he was still as important to the family as he used to be._

**Those times when love's what you hate…**

_Tom looked at the pitiful woman in front of him as she threw her body in front of her son. Without a thought other than one of disgust, he raised his wand. 'Avada Kadavra.'_

**Somehow, we keep marching on…**

'_I thought you knew what you were doing!' Ron screamed at Harry, the golden chain of Salazar's locket visible around his neck._

'_None of us do! But we are the world's last chance!'_

**For those nights when I couldn't be there…**

_Harry screamed in sorrow and agony as his beloved godfather fell backwards behind the veil, and realized that he would never again see that twinkle in the man's eyes as his heart stopped beating…_

**I've made it harder to know that you know, that somehow, we'll keep moving on…**

"_Harry stood before everyone, Albus's corpse in its casket behind him, and said the most simple thing- 'Though life will go on, we will never forget him.'"_

**There's so many wars we fought…**

_Hogwarts was ablaze with bolts of light, rocking from the screams and crashes, and filled with the bodies of the fallen as Neville stepped through the nearly empty Great Hall that has once been grand, and was now just a hollow reminder of what was really at stake._

**There's so many things we're not…**

"_Draco looked down at the new tattoo on his forearm as tears poured down his face. This wasn't what he wanted; this wasn't who he was."_

**But with what we have, I promise you that we're marching on…**

'_NO!' Nymphadora screamed, falling to her knees and clutching her husband's dead body, rocking back and forth as the most horrid feeling of loss overwhelmed her. _

'_Come on! We'll get him later!' someone demanded, grabbing her sleeve and pulling her to her feet and away from the love of her life, broken on the ground._

**For all of the plans we made…**

'_Severus, when the time comes, I want you to be the one to do it.'_

_Severus looked at Albus in disbelief._

'_So you care for the boy's soul, but mine is no issue to you?'_

'_Severus, you know as well as I do that your soul is no longer as pure as that of the boy.'_

**There isn't a flag I'd wave…**

'_For Dumbledore!' Colin screamed as he rushed into the battle, a banner reading 'DA' streaming behind him._

**Don't care if we bend…**

_Despite the Slytherin's initial hatred towards the rest of the school, even they would stand up and fight to save what they loved so much- their safety._

**I'd sink us to swim...**

'_If I don't, he'll kill me!' Draco shouted desperately, his wand shaking in his hand as he pointed it at the white-haired wizard. 'It's you or my family! F-family always c-c-comes first!'_

**We're marching on…**

_The members of Dumbledore's Army kept together when they could, avoiding Dolores as much as possible, and continuing their training despite the imminent danger or being discovered._

**For those doubts that swirl all around us…**

_'How could he not have told me?' Harry wondered as he listened to the older Weasley relative. He thought he knew Dumbledore so well, but the woman was right- Did he really know him at all?_

**For those lives that tear at the seams…**

_Bellatrix looked up at the Dark Lord, the only thought in her head pleasing him so that maybe he might love her as she loved him, despite knowing that Tom Marvolo Riddle no longer felt love._

**We know we're not what we've seen…**

'_Hermione, I have seen death, and more hatred than I care to remember! What makes you think that I'm so pure?'_

'_Because, Harry, that's not you. You're not like them.'_

**For this dance we'll move with each other…**

_The members of the three schools put aside their differences that night, dancing together, laughing together, and becoming friends; they thought nothing about the fact that they were rivals, for at that moment, even for a single night, they were united as witches and wizards._

**There ain't no other step than one foot right in front of the other…**

_Ron saw Harry pull on his invisibility cloak, and realization hit him. He knew what the boy was going to do, but he made no move to stop him, knowing it would do no good. He shed a tear for his friend, and continued fighting, putting one foot in front of the other, and sending spells blindly at the enemy._

**There's so many wars we've fought…**

_The school cheered as Dolores ran from the great hall, screaming. Behind her was a giant dragon made of flames. As she sped away, the Weasley twins followed, shouting 'Goodbye to the Wicked Witch!'_**  
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**There's so many things we're not…**

'_I don't care, Father!' Draco screamed, spinning around to face him in the blood spattered halls of the school he had come to love. 'I'm not like you! I am not going to help destroy this place, or the people in it! And if you won't join me, then you'll just have to kill me!'_

**But with what we have, I promise you that we're marching on…**

_Despite Ron's horrid departure, Harry and Hermione made a promise to continue looking for the Horcruxes. They would keep at it, because what was one friendship to the fate of the world?_

**For all of the plans we've made…**

'_I will be the one to kill the boy. Then, I shall rule. You shall all have a place in the new world that I create.'_

**There isn't a flag I'd wave…**

_The sky was lit with the Dark Mark, and Ginny felt herself shudder as she realized what it meant- this was no longer a battle. It was a war._

**Don't care if we bend…**

_Lucius and Narcissa watched as the curses started flying. When they realized that the blonde head of their son was not visible in the chaos, all loyalties to Voldemort were lost. _

'_DRACO!' they screamed, rushing through the school to find him._

**I'd sink us to swim…**

_Tom looked at his minions, the Death Eaters who would give their lives to him, either out of fear, love, or respect, and knew that every single one of them would die before he would allow himself to be destroyed._

**We're marching on…**

_With no clue where the next Horcrux could be, the trio sat in their tent. They knew that it was like looking for a pin in a stack of needles, but they also knew that nothing except the loss of their lives would make them give in the search._

**Right, right, right, right left right, right, right…**

_George stared down at the lifeless boy below him, a mirror image of himself, with the ghost of his last laugh still etched on his face. He heard people calling his name and the name of his twin, but he was numb, cold, and in utter shock. He turned to continue the fight, to avenge his brother, and had only one thought in his head- right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot…_

**We'll have the days we break…**

_Draco splashed water on his face as he hunched over the bathroom sink, vomiting into the basin and being careful not to look at the Mark. He could feel himself losing his sanity- being stuck between doing the right thing and saving yourself can do that to you. Sitting alone, he finally let himself cry._

**And we'll have the scars to prove it…**

'_I guess we both have our scars now, eh Malfoy?' Harry laughed humorlessly, looking down at the Dark Mark on the boy's arm. He could see Draco's eyes flick up to the lightning bolt on his forehead. _

'_Guess so,' Draco mumbled, pulling his sleeve down, his eyes full of agony and hatred for himself and what he'd done._

**We'll have the bonds that we save…**

_The friends, from all backgrounds and houses, held hands as they stepped out of the Room of Requirement, wands at the ready and knowing that they will always have someone at their back. Though they were nothing alike, they were bound by friendship and love for each other, and they were going to fight to save that bond._

**But we'll have the heart not to lose it…**

_As Hermione walked, alone, down the deserted street of her town, leaving behind her home and her parents, she kept her head held high. She would not lose it now. _

**For all of the times we've stopped…**

_Harry stopped, the ghosts of his loved ones swirling around him, and whispered, 'Does it hurt?'_

'_Dying? Not at all. It's faster and easier than falling asleep.'_

**For all of the things I'm not…**

'_So, I'm a Horcrux?' Harry clarified, sitting in King's Cross with his favorite Professor._

'_Were, Harry. No longer.'_

**We put one foot right in front of the other…**

_Harry just put one foot and then the other, grabbing Cedric's body and the portkey, knowing it was his only chance._

**We move like we ain't got no other…**

'_Onward!' Minerva shouted. 'We have no other chance but this one to prove ourselves and to save our school! Fight! Fight!'_

**We go when we go, we're marching on…**

_Harry looked at Dumbledore with a slightly self-conscious look. _

'_And if I get on the train?'_

'_You will go on.'_

**There's so many wars we fought…**

_Hermione, Ron, and Harry raced out of the Ministry, the locket in hand, dodging curses and people, simply praying that they would get a chance to destroy the piece of evil that was now in their possession. _

**There's so many things we're not…**

'_Harry, you're not like him! You don't have to give in to his grip on you! That's why Snape is teaching you Occlumency! So you can avoid becoming like him!'_

**But with what we have, I promise you that we're marching on…**

_The trio, armed with only Hermion's beaded bag, strode down the streets of Britain, stopping in an alley to change. The wedding had been crashed, and now it was time for them to start working on what could likely be the last thing they ever did._

**Right, right, right, right left right, right, right, right left right, right, right, we're marching on…**

_**After ten years, 4,100 pages, seventeen hours and thirty-two minutes of movies, there are only two hours and thirty minutes left until the journey is at and end. We have lived in this world of magic for so long, laughing through the good times, crying through the deaths, and loving those who touched our hearts first as children and now as teenagers and adults, that many of us don't know how we will survive without it. I say only this- we never have to live without it. The journey may be at an end, but the memories will last forever. Remember, the thing about Hogwarts is that there is always a way back. Be it with the placing of a disk in a DVD player or the opening of a book, the story will always live as long as you remember how it feels. If you see parts of Harry in you, or others around you, then the story will always continue. So keep calm, hold hands, and cry awhile, but remember not only do the ones we love never truly leave us, but J.K. has called out to you- "And to you, dear reader, if you have stuck with Harry until the very end." **_

_**The Magic Will Never End.**_


End file.
